PSI

Vietnam is rapidly developing economically and socially – and has enjoyed declines in long-standing health challenges, such as malaria control. For example, the proportion of villagers with malaria parasites in their blood decreased from 42% to 4% over five years in the southern settlement of Phan Tien thanks to bednet programs and community-based health care services.1

However, rapid change delivers a host of new health challenges to the Vietnamese people, such as an escalating HIV epidemic. Additionally, many children have been left behind from economic-growth benefits – especially those of ethnic minority groups. One study found that more than 60% of those in majority ethnic groups such as the Kinh have access to sanitation, while only 16% of those in minority ethnic groups such as the H’Mong do.2

PSI/Vietnam launched operations in early 2005 through regional USAID funding targeting most-at-risk populations (MARP) for HIV prevention. In 2006, PSI/Vietnam received regional DFID funding for a Harm Reduction Program and PSI/Washington Discretionary Funding for a safe water program.

From 2006 to 2009, PSI significantly enhanced its operations to deliver a comprehensive HIV prevention program by expanding products, services and behavior change activities thereby addressing the needs of MARP in the context of an aggressive HIV epidemic in Vietnam. PSI/Vietnam's products include Number One male condoms, Number One Plus water-based lubricants, and Care female condoms. PSI/Vietnam’s communications support for HIV services include the Chan Troi Moi (New Horizons) campaign to market voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) services, the 100% Condom Use campaign, as well as generic campaigns to promote services for prevention of mother to child HIV transmission. As a result of these efforts, PSI/Vietnam’s HIV prevention programming had directly contributed to more than 3,000 HIV DALYs by 2009.

In 2010, PSI re-launched its safe water program to increase access to safe water with SafeWat, a point-of-use water treatment product, as well as with a communications campaign to improve hygiene practices among vulnerable populations.

In January 2010, the PSI/Vietnam Management Team developed a five-year Strategic Plan to maximize health impact in Vietnam. The five Strategic Initiatives listed below provide a framework for the organization's development over the next five years:

• Diversify funding by becoming an active partner to the government to help achieve its health objectives
• Diversify and enhance the health intervention portfolio to generate and maximize measurable health impact
• Achieve scale by integrating social marketing and behavior change communications (BCC) technical competence into existing organizations in Vietnam
• Ensure lasting solutions by fully engaging the private sector to improve health product and service accessibility
• Build a strong and sustainable organization by investing in the capacity of our people and processes

PSI/Vietnam’s mission, as restated in the five-year strategic plan, is to measurably improve the health of poor and vulnerable Vietnamese populations through evidence-based social marketing of health products, services, and behavior change communications in collaboration with the Government of Vietnam.

1. 1. Source: International Journal of Epidemiology, October 2002.
2. 2. Source: Young Lives in Vietnam: An International study on Childhood Poverty.

Health Areas

Child Survival, Diarrheal Disease, HIV

PSI in Vietnam

Platform status

In 2008, PSI/Vietnam was granted a Representative Office license by the People’s Aid Coordinating Committee (PACCOM). This is the highest type of license for any international non-governmental organization working in Vietnam. The license allows PSI/Vietnam to plan and implement longer-term projects. The license also allows PSI/Vietnam to expand the scale of programs in terms of geography and staff size.

In addition to the operating permit, PSI/Vietnam has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Vietnam Administration of HIV/AIDS Control (VAAC). VAAC is the focal agency under the Ministry of Health responsible for controlling and coordinating all HIV/AIDS activities in Vietnam. The MoU formalizes the relationship between PSI and VAAC and serves as a framework for collaboration at a national and provincial level.

PSI/Vietnam is headquartered in Hanoi with HIV prevention programs in nine PEPFAR priority provinces and safe water programs in two provinces in the Mekong Delta region.

Health Impact

PSI/Vietnam estimates that in 2010, its products and services helped avert:

• 3,975 HIV & TB DALYs1
• 4,703 Reproductive Health DALYs
• 34 Child Survival DALYs
1. 1. Source: The DALY (Disability-Adjusted Life Year) is a widely-used, credible metric that was first developed by the World Bank and is now routinely relied upon in the public health community.

Health Interventions

• HIV Risk Perception
• Injecting Drug Users
• Sex Workers
• Men Who Have Sex with Men
• HIV Counseling and Testing
• Female Condom
• Male Condom

Improving Health in Vietnam

HIV

The number of people living with HIV in Vietnam is sharply increasing. Cases jumped during a four-year period from 1999 to 2003 from approximately 96,000 to 245,000.1Today it’s estimated that about 300,000 Vietnamese are living with HIV. 2

PSI/Vietnam promotes HIV programs and services that empower most-at-risk populations to lead healthier lives. In Vietnam, the most-at-risk include: injecting drug users (IDU), sex workers (SW), men having sex with men (MSM), and the sexual partners of vulnerable groups, such as male clients of sex workers. Highlights from each of these program areas include:

Changing High-Risk Sexual Behavior among Male Clients of Sex Workers

PSI/Vietnam implements an integrated behavior change campaign to promote safer sexual behavior among male clients of sex workers. It uses mass media to surround the target audience and targeted interpersonal communication activities to engage the audience. PSI/Vietnam’s outreach team is remarkably effective and reaches more than 60,000 male clients per month. PSI/Vietnam is the only organization in the PEPFAR portfolio working on a large scale with this high-risk group.

Learn more about PSI/Vietnam's programs that target male clients of sex workers.

Condom Social Marketing

In addition to promoting condom use through targeted behavior change communication activities, PSI/Vietnam works to increase condom availability in high risk areas and non-traditional outlets including guest-houses, hotels, street vendors, cafes, and massage parlors. By convincing owners of non-traditional outlets and entertainment establishments to purchase and promote condoms, PSI/Vietnam’s social marketing program is promoting a sustainable approach to HIV programming. PSI/Vietnam works closely with USAID, VAAC and the provincial government to provide technical assistance, develop social marketing programs and coordinate condom distribution. PSI/Vietnam also promotes female condoms for SW and water-based lubricants co-packaged with male condoms for MSM and SW.

Learn more about condom social marketing in Vietnam.

Communications Support for HIV Services

PSI/Vietnam promotes the use of free and confidential HIV VCT services for MARP through its Chan Troi Moi (“New Horizon”) campaign. The campaign supports 67 VCT sites in seven provinces and also includes mass media channels such as billboards in high-risk sites, online and print media to reach male clients and MSM along with community mobilization events and direct marketing strategies for SW and MSM. Partners throughout the country say this high-profile campaign is one of the first at that scale to directly address and help de-stigmatize HIV and related issues.

PSI/Vietnam also promotes early HIV testing among pregnant women seeking antenatal services. PSI/Vietnam’s generic campaign supports CDC/Life-GAP project sites in seven provinces with communication campaigns designed to improve the use of Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV (PMTCT) services. PSI/Vietnam was also invited to sub-contract under Save the Children to extend PMTCT communication support to four other provinces in 2010.

Sex Worker - IDU Interventions and the Break the Cycle Model

PSI supports outreach workers who target sex workers, with a special focus on sex workers who are drug users. PSI’s Song Dep outreach program promotes safer sexual practices and the use of VCT services while discouraging unsafe injecting practices among sex workers who use drugs. This project is implemented in four high HIV prevalence provinces and is the only intervention in Vietnam targeting this group with messages around the dual risk of HIV infection by promoting safer sexual practices and use of VCT services, while reducing unsafe injecting practices and preventing initiation into drug use. It’s also the only intervention in Vietnam using the Unique Identifier Code (UIC) information system for monitoring purposes to track quality and coverage.

In 2009, PSI launched the Break the Cycle program, which incorporates an evidence-based model developed in the UK and successfully implemented by PSI in Central Asia to prevent existing drug users from initiating new users. PSI provides technical assistance research, training, communication materials, and ongoing support and helps integrate the BTC model into existing partner programs targeting male injecting drug users.

Learn more about PSI/Vietnam's programs with sex workers.

Child Survival

PSI/Vietnam’s Safe Water program provides access to diluted sodium hypochlorite solution to treat water at the household level. In 2010, PSI re-launched the SafeWat product in two provinces in response to the high prevalence of diarrhea and cholera in the Mekong Delta region. PSI’s current model aims to achieve cost recovery within two years of the product re-launch using a combination of domestic manufacturing and market building activities. PSI/Vietnam estimates that this program helps avert more than 17,000 episodes of diarrhea annually. Additionally, the solution and bottles are produced in Vietnam, and the demand generated for these products supports the domestic economy.

1. 1. Source: HIV/AIDS Facts and Figures (UNAIDS).
2. 2. Source: HIV Estimates 2005-2010 (UNAIDS).

Latest News

• Midwives Train To Curb HIV in Hard-Hit Vietnam Highlands
  January 11, 2011
• Vietnamese Street Talker Steers Men Down a Safer Path
  April 29, 2010

Resources

• Photo Gallery: Community-based Rehabilitation for Drug Users in Southwest China
• Condom Social Marketing Fact Sheet
• Male Clients of Sex Workers
• PSI/Vietnam One Pager 2010
• Sex Workers and IDU Fact Sheet
• Male Client Behavioral Survey Report 2009
• Break The Cycle Qualitative Research Report